Posted on 02/09/2015 11:43:45 PM PST by steve86
SNOQUALMIE PASS — For sure, Warren Miller, who for decades annually produced a ski movie eagerly anticipated by his fans, would have passed on filming here this winter.
Snow levels are near a record-level disaster: possibly the lowest since the state began keeping annual counts 66 years ago.
Consider these numbers:
The record for lowest annual snowfall at Snoqualmie is 191 inches, in the 1976-77 season.
Hyak, a resort at the pass, ended up filing for bankruptcy.
Its attorney said in a Feb. 5, 1977, Seattle Times story, “The Hyak ski area has been open one day this year, and it rained the entire day.”
So far this season, snow at the pass: 74 inches.
Snoqualmie would need a phenomenal 117 more inches of snow to stay out of the record book.
The snow news is grim in other Northwest mountain areas.
Hurricane Ridge is at 13 percent of normal snow. Its webcam this past weekend showed big rain drops.
Stevens Pass: 47 percent of normal. Paradise: 43 percent. Mount Baker: 27 percent. White Pass: 8 percent.
The snow, where is the snow?
Those are dirt pockets poking up on that ski slope. That’s vegetation that decided it must be spring, and that ski-resort employees now are cutting back.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
PING!
Reservoirs not so great either.
Meanwhile the midwest and northeast are getting slammed every other week.
CC
Truck it in from Boston.
You want snow? We got snow, come and take it away, free. FREE!! :)
Mt Baker typically gets over 400” but not this year.
Mostly light, steady rain spread across many days.
Since January 1st - Almost one inch above normal.
Since October 1st - Almost one inch above normal.
In eastern Washington, do you guys get rain at the lower elevations, or has that dried up, too?
Last I heard, ocean temperatures off the Washington coast are abnormally warm, which has kept us much warmer than usual.
We had just one extended cold spell, with super dry air from Canada, for about 2 weeks, I think in early December.
Didn’t Seattle just pass a new minimum wage regulation?
It was for $15 an hour, who can live on that, such cold hearted cruelty should be punished.
And now there is no snow?
Coincidence? I think not.
The increase in the minimum wage allowed people to afford heat this winter. The increased radiation from the now heated dwellings induced rain before reaching the mountains as snow
municipal warming is the culprit
It sounds as though Barry and his ‘RATS may be engaging in some snow redistribution.
I call total BS when I find this and that statement is shown to be a convenient mis-characterization by cherry-picking a date range and ignoring statistics on similar years.
http://www.sahalie.org/documents/History/Snow.pdf
(scroll down for Snoqualmie Pass snow historical, which shows there are a NUMBER of years in the historical record with low total snowfalls within 10% of that cited).
More here (older AND lower).
IOW,
Boston has had >60 in in the last month, more storms are projected this week. Weather happens.
Climate is cyclical and owners of ski resorts know this and astute ones plan for it.
For years, the resorts in the Appalachias from WV to ME went begging while the ones in the west prospered. Now it’s reversed.
Wasn’t it only a couple of years ago when the Sierras had record snowfall?
Having lived in the Northwest most of my adult life, I have seen a couple of winters with low precipitation followed by very wet summers. And a couple of very dry summers. Worrying about it one way or the other won’t change anything. Anyway, the wise person always conserves when possible.
We’ve had precipitation but little snow.
I have some very confused plants right now! On the plus side, we haven’t used half our wood supply, when normally we are wondering if we’ll make it through March without having to buy more! Saves a lot of $$$ for next seasons wood. Not good for the guys who sell it for a living tho.
I read about it. A friend posted a pic of her car on FB, but we didn’t seem to get any here, that I noticed. She lives near Yakima.
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